May long weekend, I went on what was by far, the best bachelorette party ever. It will not be topped in this lifetime, I guarantee it.
My good friend Liz is getting married on July 11, 2009, in our hometown of Powell River, BC. Her sister Deanna, and her mother Nancy (whom I’ve known forever), had been planning her bachelorette weekend for months, and I felt honoured just to be involved. They wanted to take her on a trip somewhere, because when Deanna got married, Liz and her Mom whisked her off to Las Vegas for the weekend, and also didn’t tell her where she was going! Well, we followed the same theme here.
On Wednesday night, after a run with Liz, and a rained out beach volleyball game (and also an impromptu beer with our volleyball team that I couldn’t get out of!), I ran home to shower and change to get ready for Liz’ mom to come pick me up. She arrived from Powell River at around 8:00pm, before I even got out of the shower! I quickly grabbed my suitcase and we were on the road out to White Rock to surprise Liz. We had filled in her fiance, Chris, only a few days prior – because we didn’t think he could keep that big of a secret for so long! We called Chris when we arrived, and he let us into their apartment. Nancy walked in first, then me with a camera in my hand shooting video, and then there was Chris bringing up the rear. Liz had no idea what hit her. “What are YOU doing here?” she asked her Mom. “And what are you doing here all showered up?” she says to me. (I had only left her at the pub less than an hour ago.) Nancy just said casually, “I need someone to drive me to Seattle.”
“Yeah right,” she scoffed. We were serious. Nancy came down in her car and was going to make Liz drive. We told her to pull out her suitcase and passport, and start packing. We tell her that shorts, tank tops and bikinis should suffice. “Hmmm… it’s not that warm in Seattle!” Liz shouts, rather excitedly.
“Well, we might be catching a plane from Seattle tomorrow morning,” I tell her. She’s suspicious, but she’s happier than can be, because we told her to pack her bathing suit. There were some lame excuses about working the next day, but nope, Nancy had that covered weeks ago. It was a “bulletproof plan,” as Chris called it.
Before we knew it, we were in the car and cruising past the U.S. border. Even the border official obliged to our little game. He asked where we were going, and we said Seattle…. “Seattle is just the beginning”, Nancy told him. He didn’t seem to mind. He jokingly asked if we had any toys or strange things in the suitcases. Nope, and we were on our way!
After a very close flight connection and sprinting through the Phoenix airport, we endured our flights and arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida late in the evening. We are greeted by two screaming girls in a minivan – Liz’ sister Deanna who lives in Winnipeg, and her friend Christie who she played hockey with in College, and now lives in Sacramento, California. We arrived at the house, and Seanna, another friend and former teammate from College, arrived shortly after. She had already been in Lauderdale for a few days. She also used to live with Liz back when she was doing her teaching practicum in Fort Lauderdale, and back when I was working on boats and crashing at their place on the weekends I was in town. The next day, we picked up Jenny from the airport, another Powell Riverite, who was arriving from Toronto, and our crew was finally complete.
The weather wasn’t the best on Friday, there were rain showers on and off all day, so we spent most of it shopping. Later, it cleared up beautifully, and we cooked an amazing dinner at our pimpin’ house that we rented right on the intercoastal. If you’ve never been to South Florida before, they have these intercoastal waterways that weave throughout most of the area almost like streets. Residents who live on the waterway can dock their boat in their backyard. It’s a pretty sweet set-up. You can also catch water taxis on them that take you downtown and to other popular areas.
Saturday was the best day ever. We drove 2 hours south of Fort Lauderdale to Islamorada, in the Florida Keys, and we rented a boat. We were a little worried, as it started raining on our way down there, but the sun gods pulled through for a gorgeous sunny day in the Keys. We anchored our boat, along with about 50 others, on a sand bar in the middle of the ocean, where the water was only about waist deep. We drank beers, played frisbee, made some new friends, and had a football game in the water. It was pure awesomeness. The only minor setback – sunburns for everyone – but still the greatest day ever.
That night we dressed Liz up (nobody knows us, right?), went out for dinner, and then out on the town on Las Olas Boulevard in downtown Lauderdale. Vancouver really needs to follow Fort Lauderdale’s lead and just have all the bars open, with no cover, and no line up. Only at the really big clubs down there do you have to wait in line and pay cover. And even then, the club is at least worth the cover charge. There will be about 4 different rooms, with 4 different DJ’s playing all different kinds of music. We stuck to the main strip though, and just bar hopped, which was much more fun.
Sunday Funday was just a lazy day, lounging at the house in the morning, and
sitting on the beach in the afternoon. A quick downpour late in the afternoon cleared the beach, so we ended up hitting a beach bar, and then headed back to the house for another delicious home-cooked meal.
Monday, sadly, it was time to leave. It was an unbelievable trip, and I want to thank all the girls that made it such a blast, especially you sneaky Betteridge girls. And Liz, thank you for being the awesome person that you are. We wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for you. ‘Til next time, ladies! Well, July 11th in Powell River, for the wedding at least. xoxo
To finish things off, I’ll leave you with a little video I cooked up in honour of the weekend.
The tears were flowing as soon as us girls saw Jerra in her wedding dress. She looked so gorgeous! Then, to see her father walk her down the aisle… he was unbelievably proud of her, and didn’t hesitate to tell anyone who would listen! She walked up an aisle covered in pink rose petals to the sound of a violin, surrounded by palm trees, and her and Dale said their vows in front of a waterfall. Not exactly how you pictured a Vegas wedding, is it?
